United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) vs. C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) Critical Survey

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of C&F Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. United Community Banks pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. C&F Financial pays out 22.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. C&F Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Community Banks and C&F Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$1.54 billion	2.61	$328.10 million	$2.72	12.33
C&F Financial	$186.13 million	1.33	$26.83 million	$8.70	8.74

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than C&F Financial. C&F Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, C&F Financial has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and C&F Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	22.05%	9.65%	1.24%
C&F Financial	14.84%	11.19%	1.04%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for United Community Banks and C&F Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	4	4	0	2.50
C&F Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

United Community Banks presently has a consensus price target of $38.40, indicating a potential upside of 14.51%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Summary

United Community Banks beats C&F Financial on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.